io BIRD HAUNTS AND NATURE MEMORIES 



for the lesser black-back in particular seems to look upon 

 the carrion crow as a dangerous egg-robber, quite forgetful 

 of the maxim that " those who live in glass houses should 

 not throw stones." Oyster-catchers, one or two pairs, 

 nest in the thrift, and sit, apparently indifferently, on 

 some mound or other elevated position to watch the 

 behaviour of any visitors; all the time they keep up a 

 steady " pic-pic," probably a warning to their mates or 

 young when they are hatched. Rock-pipits by their 

 anxious peepings reveal the fact that they have nests in 

 the cliffs, and their rather smaller relatives, meadow- 

 pipits or titlarks, find plenty of cover for their brown eggs. 

 Stunted bushes shelter an odd pair of blackbirds and the 

 ubiquitous hedge-sparrow, which last has an occasional 

 visit, for domestic reasons, from a mainland cuckoo. An 

 abundance of holes in the ruins and the neglected house 

 are an attraction for starlings; these holes are mostly 

 tenanted. Wheatears and stock-doves make use of the 

 old burrows, and as the skylark may often be heard in 

 full song on the island we may conclude that it, too, is a 

 member of the Puffin avifauna. 



" The Smyrnium olusatmm or Alexanders almost 

 covers the south-west of the island," says Pennant, 

 " and is greedily eaten (boiled) by the sailors who are just 

 arrived from long voyages." Alexanders still grows in 

 profusion, but now more on the east than the west; 

 scurvy- grass is there, too, plenty of it ; but few mariners 

 land on Puffin after "long voyages"; it is doubtful if 

 they ever did. In July the thick mass of stems gives 

 shelter for the mottled grey young gulls; in September 

 I have seen starlings in vast numbers feeding on the ripe 

 seeds; all had not been reared on Puffin, they had come 

 over for the feast. Hyacinths abound in spring; I have 

 seen a herring-gull's nest decorated with a ring of these 

 flowers, plucked by the aesthetic bird. Another gull, 



